Monday, May 20, 2013

John & Sylvia Embry - After Work

Excellent first LP from husband and wife John and Sylvia Embry. No frills Chicago blues the way it should be.
I've included the non-lp tracks from the Razor single for you.
For a Sylvia Embry discography and article on John Embry please visit http://www.wirz.de/music/embryfrm.htm

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Frits's Tape Collection 5 & 6


Post: http://www40.zippyshare.com/v/92925059/file.html

Post: http://www40.zippyshare.com/v/95763184/file.html

Some more singles from Frits for your listening pleasure and there's more to come.

Various - Chicken Stuff Houston Ghetto Blues

Some wild Texas blues recorded in the early to late 60's. 6 tracks from Hop Wilson, 2 from Big Walter and 4 from Juke Boy Bonner. My favourite been Juke Boy.
Hop Wilson also has a cd out called "Houston Ghetto Blues"which includes the tracks here plus more from the same session. I haven't heard it but if it's more of what's on the lp then go for it.

Post: http://www40.zippyshare.com/v/60956689/file.html

Various - Chicago Blues LIve

Recorded live while on tour through Europe in the late 70's. Sound is good but the playing is a bit rough.. but hey who cares. Great fun.
I'm pretty sure I saw this lot when they passed thru Holland as I can remember Homesick James and also J.B. disappearing out of the hall while still playing guitar.
Possibly these tracks have been re-released on cd as Wolf seem to have hundreds of cd's out.

Post: http://www40.zippyshare.com/v/79643552/file.html

Professor Longhair - House Party New Oleans Style

Boiling blues and trademark African-Latin and boogie-woogie riffs were the menu when Professor Longhair brought his Crescent City music show to Baton Rouge and Memphis in 1971 and 1972, respectively. The 15 numbers on House Party New Orleans Style matched the great pianist with an esteemed array of musicians who included outstanding guitarist Snooks Eaglin on both sessions, and fine rhythm sections as well. Eaglin's flashy, inventive solos were excellent contrasts to Longhair's rippling keyboard flurries and distinctive mix of yodels, yells, cries and shouts.

Post: http://www40.zippyshare.com/v/49977804/file.html

Jimmy Reed - As Jimmy Is

Influential American bluesman Jimmy Reed ended his recording career in the early-'70s on Roker Record Group. This late period, funky blues 10-song set, recorded in Chicago and originally issued in 1970, features the blues legend on vocals, guitar and harmonica with accompaniment from Wayne Bennett (guitar), Eddie Taylor (guitar), Phil Upchurch (bass) and Al Duncan (drums). The collection also finds Reed experimenting with wah wah pedals and other guitar effects of the day,  all in service of his signature laid-back, easy boogie style.

Track 2 Side 1 is not on the LP or label but is listed on the cover.

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Doctor Ross - The Harmonica Boss

Recorded in 1972 on one of his tours thru Europe. Nice solo Lp from a great musician.
Pretty sure that is an Amsterdam Canal in the background. Both the front and back cover are autographed  and priced at 12 German Marks by the Doctor. Not bad value.

Post: http://www40.zippyshare.com/v/42532093/file.html

Doctor Ross - I'd Rather Be An Old Woman's baby

Some more Doctor Ross released in 1971 for the Fortune label. A chaotic and wild session with  backing from The Disciples.


Post: http://www40.zippyshare.com/v/88429066/file.html

Friday, May 10, 2013

Hosea Leavy - Greasy Greens


Guitarist-vocalist Hosea Leavy hailed from a small crossroads town called Althermer, Arkansas, located out about 26 miles from Little Rock. Born in 1927, he learned how to play guitar at an early age from his father, also a blues player in the 1920s and '30s, and soon started performing at house parties and work camps in the late 1940s. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950, Leavy honed his guitar skills performing at USO shows. In 1954 he formed a blues group featuring his younger brother, Calvin Leavy, who was a notable singer. In 1968 fame came to the Leavy brothers when Calvin recorded the blues classic "Cummins Prison Farm," based on the notorious prison work camp in Arkansas, and later made into a film called "Brubaker," starring Robert Redford. The record, released on Soul Beat/Blue Fox, sold over one million copies. The group toured extensively through much of the south with the success of the song. In 1969 Hosea released solo efforts on Riceland Records, backed by Mississippi harp player Willie Cobbs. In 1977 Hosea moved to West Fresno, California and continued his blues career. He has appeared on a number of CDs, including "You Gotta Move," on the New York-based label Fedora. He has performed at blues festivals in Europe. 

Another great one is gone. Fresno, California blues singer and guitarist Hosea Leavy died on Monday, August 12, 2008 of liver cancer. He was 80 years old. Born in Altheimer, Arkansas, just outside of Little Rock, he learned blues guitar from his father, and played throughout Arkansas before venturing out west during the 1960s. In 1968, Hosea's younger brother Calvin Leavy would record the hit record “Cummings Prison Farm” for Soul Beat Records, featuring Hosea's combo as the backing band. This led to a string of subsequent singles for both Calvin and Hosea. In 1977, Hosea settled permanently in Fresno, where he became a major part of that town's blues scene. In the 1990s, drummer Chris Millar produced sessions with Hosea that led to his only CDs, You Gotta Move, and a collaboration with Harmonica Slim called Cold Tacos and Warm Beer on the Fedora record label. A few additional cuts appear on the now out of print CD West Fresno Blues Masters, also on Fedora. A stirring vocalist and down home guitarist, Hosea had toured Europe and recently made a well-received appearance at the San Francisco Blues Festival.

Originally a cassette only release from 1993 on the Fedora label and it's excellent. Many thanks to Frits for this one. Thanks to Kempen for pointing out that it has been re-released on the cd "West Fresno Blues".

Post: http://www74.zippyshare.com/v/39821345/file.html
 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Joe Carter & Kansas City Red - Original Chicago Blues

Born Joseph J. Carter in Midland, Georgia, he was taught to play guitar by Lee Willis as a youngster in Georgia. He moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1952, where he met Muddy Waters. He formed his first band with Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers on guitar and Lester Davenport on harmonica, though he never recorded with this band. He was offered a recording contract with Cobra Records, but turned it down because he made more money with his club gigs. In the 1950s he performed frequently at the 708 Club, one of the premier blues clubs on Chicago's south side, often billed as Joe "Elmore James, Jr." Carter because of his mastery of the Elmore James slide guitar style.
Carter did not begin recording until 1976, when his debut album was issued on Barrelhouse Records. In the late 1980s he performed occasionally at the Lilly's nightclub on Chicago's north side, backed by the band The Ice Cream Men. By the early 1990s he had developed throat cancer and was forced to curtail his career. Joe died in June 2001 in Chicago.

Kansas City Red b. 7 May 1926, Drew, Mississippi, USA, d. 6 June 1991, Chicago, Illinois, USA. A drummer and blues singer, in the 40s Red worked for Robert Nighthawk (who recorded Red’s song, ‘The Moon Is Rising’), and in the 50s for Earl Hooker. He became a club owner in Chicago, and a fixture on the city’s blues scene, playing with Johnny Shines, Walter Horton and Sunnyland Slim, and leading his own bands, one of which provided early professional experience for Jimmy Reed. Red claimed to have recorded demos for Chess Records, JOB and Vee Jay Records, but his debut as a name artist came on a 1975 anthology. Thereafter, he continued to do occasional session drumming for several of his Chicago colleagues, and to combine bar management with live gigs. 
Thanks go to Marc for filling a request.